Translated from Ukrainian:
Oksana Sudoma
Kyiv – Ukrainian people have moved to a different level comparing to the politicians of all the camps. EuroMaydan increased self-awareness, self-esteem of the people and their understanding of their role and their rights. The CEO “Microsoft-Ukraine” Dmitro Schimkiv, who took time off to work on the Maidan, spoke about it on the “Youth plus ” program. He also explained why it is impossible to ditch the middle class and how EuroMaydan affects the skeptics.
– I work for the Microsoft company. I am free to spend my evenings and days off however I am pleased to. For a long time I went to Maidan after work, because I felt like it was my citizen duty. However, after the nights of December 10 to 11, I went to work, assembled my team and wrote a letter requesting a vacation. As an official, I cannot stay on the job and at the same time be on the Maidan.
What is the reason? For me, the rights and freedoms of citizens are important. Beyond the political context, they should be protected. People have a right to express their own opinions, gather peacefully and talk about it, and no security forces can aggressively, especially at night, stop the will of the people.
– How hard was it to publicly declare your position? At the very least, it is a career risk for the corporation.
[The company understands that its employees are citizens. And they have rights.]
The Corporation is a non-political organization, and we have repeatedly stated that my personal position does not coincide with the position of the corporation. It cooperates with various organizations: with Ukrainian government organizations, NGOs, with Russia, the United States, the European Community and many countries in the world. The company does not get involved in the political process. But the company understands that its employees are citizens. And they have rights. And I am at liberty to express my personal views.
I simply wrote on my Facebook that I temporary resign as a CEO and on the way to the Maidan to support my countrymen. At six in the evening friends called me saying, “You know that you are already on television? “.
– As a manager, how do you rate the quality of self-organization of the Maidan?
[Maidan has shown what the Ukrainian people are like. The level of self-organization significantly increased people’s level of self-awareness and self-esteem]
– This is fantastic! I believe that Maidan has shown what are the Ukrainian people like (it’s represented by all the strata of the population, all ages and religions). Maidan amazes me all the time. Once I shoveled the snow next to a priest, a former officer in a uniform, girls, students, and the elderly. And nobody said what to do, where to do and how to do it; people just did it.
My friends, famous lawyers and entrepreneurs, have worked for a long time in the kitchen, during the day we worked at our jobs, and in the evening we went to work to Maidan. This level of self-organization significantly increased the level of self-awareness and self-esteem of the people. They moved to another level of self-awareness and self-assessment of their role and their rights.
Some compare the EuroMaydan with Sich, others with the Novgorod Viche or Athens. All these examples involve free men; and free men have the right to freely express their views, and no one may limit that right. And it’s cool when people have an understanding of rights. Notably, it connects with all the segments of the population; not only people with the higher education, but the factory workers as well. I believe that Maidan is the platform where people say, ” I have a right ” and help others. And it is important that it is a non-violent protest.
Under threats or any pressure people expressed love for one another, a Christian love. In everyday life we remain skeptics, but the EuroMaydan proved that something very human still remains in us.
– Can we consider this protest coming from the Ukrainian middle class? Or is it a wishful thinking?
– The middle class formed gradually over the 20 years of Ukrainian independence. First, there were the events of 2004 when the middle class was denied the right to vote.
We then received the vaccine for the freedom of speech, not against it. Current events are also created by the people who run businesses. These are the people who have an important quality – they are free thinkers, they have taken responsibility for themselves and their families, they make money without working for someone else; they create their own business and employ others. Having a mindset like this is a high responsibility because it takes an ability to assume responsibility for own life and the lives of others. Also, their entrepreneurship, the ability to invent, to see the possibilities counts. When a situation arises that these experienced people are told to limit their own right to think or speak – these people say “no! “.
– What can become of EuroMaidan?
– Viche and Maidan already created a history. World history. The very fact of the number of people who came to speak out is important. This is the history. This is an expression of people’s point of view. What can become of it, well, there are many possible outcomes. Also, people may go away. Marginalization can occur and some of the politicians may try using it to their advantage.
Maidan and the people of Ukraine have moved to a different level comparing to all the politicians of any camp. People got smarter. I hope that the people will not allow using them. Maidan, like a living creature, is immune to that.
– You probably couldn’t help but notice all the technical innovations of Maidan. Did Maidan bring anything new in the IT area?
– Everything that happened was possible because of the technology. This was due to the mobility, social networking and cloud technologies. Maidan was possible due to these technological trends. Look at the number of photos taken, they are all made with the mobile phones. People kept in touch through the social networking. By the way, it was not the case in 2004. And when we talk about cloud technology – it allowed the free media to do their job. Everyone experiences cyber attacks, either free media, or the government organizations. These actions are illegal and they should not happen. But the cloud technology has allowed the independent media to say on the air despite any hacker attacks.
By Marichka Naboka
Source: Radio Svoboda
http://www.radiosvoboda.org/content/article/25211019.html
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